Plot: It
is 1641 and lovely Lady Henrietta Wade, known as Hal, is lady in waiting to
Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I of England (the cover actually comes from a portrait of the Queen).Hal was named for the Queen, who is her
godmother.French and a devoted
Catholic, the Queen is resented by many of her husband’s subjects, particularly
by the Roundheads/Puritans who blame her for her religion as well as for the
King’s determination to retain the unlimited power of an absolute monarch.

When the book begins, Hal’s mother, Lady
Langdon, who lives in the country due to ill health, has asked the Queen to
send Hal home. Hal’s father escorts her from
London and shares his concern that the unrest in the country may lead to civil
war. Hal is concerned by the rumors but
she basically thinks of Puritans as spoilsports who consider it sinful for a
woman to look pretty. She is also disappointed
with her father for betrothing her to the Duke of Thewes, who is old and
fat. Lord Langdon does not understand
his daughter and dismisses her concerns about the disparity of age, saying
merely that she is fortunate to have secured the interest of the Duke and will
outrank nearly everyone at Court.

Once at Langdon Hall in Shottery, not far from
Stratford-upon-Avon, Hal is glad to see both her mother and Nancy Cheam, the housekeeper
who was once her nurse. Hal grew up with
Mrs. Cheam’s grandson, Jerry Vane, two years her senior. Lord Langdon paid for Jerry, a bright young
man, to be educated at Cambridge, where he has become close to John Milton. When Jerry returns to Langdon Hall, he is a
handsome and intelligent young man whose political views are anathema to the
Wades – in fact, they are appalled at his disloyalty in supporting the
Roundhead cause: “How dared Jerry become a Puritan,” thinks Hal, her eyes
flashing angrily. Hal sometimes appears spoilt and
willful, but she and Jerry grow close as civil war approaches, despite the fact
that they find themselves on opposite sides:

“If there’s war – and there surely will be – I
suppose you’ll join the Roundheads?”

“And would you expect me to join the
Cavaliers?”

“It’s quite indifferent to me which side you’re
on. But you Roundheads are to blame for
this trouble.”

“Are we now? It would seem to me that the blame
should rest on the King.” He refused to
be put on the defensive. His pleasant
voice remained calm. “It seems to me
that liberty’s a thing worth fighting for, and you’ll have to agree that the
King has forced us to it. If he’d
compromise a bit – just a little.”

She glared at him. “Oh, why don’t you go to
America with the other Puritans? I wish every one of you would get out of
England. Then maybe we’d have peace!”

The rapprochment doesn't happen overnight! It takes war and personal tragedy for Hal to
mature, and escape from the odious marriage arranged by her father, leaving her
free to ... well, you’ll have to read the book!

What I liked: The English Civil War is
one of my favorite periods, and like fiction set during the U.S. Civil War, it
provides drama and conflict between families as different loyalties are
tested. Malvern does a good job
describing the different principles of Charles I and his unruly Parliament, and
a teen audience would understand the positions of the characters. Jerry doesn’t have as much personality as
some of Malvern’s other heroes but maybe I just prefer Cavaliers! A modern
audience might not understand that Hal is expected to sacrifice for Charles I
just as her brother is expected to fight for him. Malvern does
show how this war affected a young woman of noble birth as Hal tries to balance
her loyalty to her monarchs and her own personal happiness.

It is a bit odd reading an interactive children’s
book as an adult. I loved the pictures
of Charles 1 imbedded in the text and I like the concept of being able to touch
a word (in bold) to get its meaning.
However, when I was first reading Malvern (6th or 7th grade, I think) I certainly knew words like astride and threadbare and scullery
but maybe I wouldn’t have been familiar with furlough and inveigled. My favorite references were illustrations of
locations in the book such as Pendennis Castle in Plymouth. Once I grew used to the format, I enjoyed it.

Audience: Pre-teens and teens, fans of historical
fiction and of authors such as Ann Rinaldi,Karen Cushman, and Michelle Cooper. Although I read every Malvern in my school
and public libraries, I had never come across this one so was delighted to find
it back in print and enjoyed it.

Gladys Malvern

Gladys Malvern: Known for her quality
historical fiction, Malvern (1897-1962) also vividly depicted the historical
and contemporary theater in her books (one of my favorites is Gloria BalletDancer, which is the first in a trilogy set in mid-20th century New
York about an aspiring dancer).Gladys and
her younger sister Corinne appeared on stage in vaudeville productions from a
young age, and Gladys graduated to actual theater roles as a teen (just like
one of her heroines).Later the sisters
and their mother moved to Los Angeles, where Corinne must have either studied
art or developed natural talent as she obtained work as a fashion artist and
Gladys became a copywriter.The sisters
stayed close and collaborated on several books.Eventually, they moved to New York, and Gladys wrote more than 40 books,
including Behold Your Queen, which I highly recommend - one of several novels
with a biblical theme.I used to tell
people that everything I knew about Judaism as a child came from All of a Kind Family or Gladys Malvern!

Source: I won this book through a Twitter contest from
Beebliome Books, which graciously offered me my choice of a book from their list. There were several books that caught my
interest, including several rare Malvern titles and by other classic authors
such as Hilda Lewis and John and Patricia Beatty.

Plot: Chick lit used to refer
to a genre of fiction involving sprightly single women experiencing the travails
of love and a usually not too demanding career, surrounded by friends and
family (in that order).The genre expanded
(perhaps as that first group of Bridget Jones readers aged, or perhaps because
the industry needed some fresh plots) to include busy working women, with bland
or troubled marriages, facing some kind of challenge, sometimes with the
spouse.Points/extra credit if the book
is set in a vibrant city like New York or London, though I am partial to the
quaint village backdrop which is a favorite of British authors such as KatieFforde.

Here, heroine Allie Crawford is
an overcommitted mother of two, a public relations executive living on the
Upper East Side with a gregarious husband, Wade, who runs a trendy magazine. Soon we learn that Allie is defined by two
things that predate her seemingly happy family life: the loss of her father in
a plane crash when she was 16 and her belief that she missed out on the love of
her life with her closest childhood friend, James. From time to time she also longs to resurrect
the writing career she abandoned to help support the family. In the midst of all this angst, she makes an
extremely unlikely friend and becomes involved in uncovering a mystery
encompassing nearly all the men in her life.
Ultimately, Allie has to decide what she really wants and if she is
obsessed with the idea of a man in her life, rather than any actual man.

What I liked: Even the parts of this book that were extremely improbable were entertaining;
the author’s writing style is amusing and ironic. I thought the book worked best when
describing Allie’s job and acquaintances, rather than dwelling on her ongoing
self pity. I liked the screenwriting
class she took, with an absurd teacher, and didn’t object to the appearance of a
handsome male character turning up just when Allie’s ego needed boosting (alas,
there are always more attractive single men in NYC fiction than in real life). In some ways, Allie’s NYC life was not very
different from many of my friends and neighbors when I lived on East 89th
Street. Overall, The Idea of Him is a
fun read with plenty of humor to offset the somber moments. I
enjoyed Peterson’s previous book, The Manny, and recommend this one also as a fast
and pleasant read.

What I disliked: Allie spends a lot of time whining instead of
doing anything, and leans on others too much. Luckily, the author agreed with me and addressed this issue - in fact, you could say it's the theme of the book!

Source: I received this book from TLC Book Tours, and
invite you to visit other stops on the tour below for other perspectives on The Idea of Him. In addition, the publisher has generously
provided a copy of the book for me to give away along with the candle pictured above.

Please leave a comment about your favorite book set in NYC if you are interested.

1643. The armies of King Charles I
and Parliament clash in the streets and fields of England, threatening to tear
the country apart, as winter closes in around the parliamentary stronghold of
Nantwich. The royalists have pillaged the town before, and now, they are
returning. But even with weeks to prepare before the Civil War is once more at
its gates, that doesn’t mean the people of Nantwich are safe.

While the garrison of soldiers
commanded by Colonel George Booth stand guard, the town’s residents wait,
eyeing the outside world with unease, unaware that they face a deadly threat
from within. Townspeople are being murdered – the red sashes of the royalists
left on the bodies marking them as traitors to the parliamentary cause. When the first dead man is found,
his skull caved in with a rock, fingers start being pointed, and old hatreds
rise to the surface. It falls to Constable Daniel Cheswis to contain the
bloodshed, deputizing his friend, Alexander Clowes, to help him in his
investigations, carried out with the eyes of both armies on his back. And they
are not the only ones watching him.

He is surrounded by enemies, and
between preparing for the imminent battle, watching over his family, being
reunited with his long-lost sweetheart, and trying, somehow, to stay in
business, he barely has time to solve a murder. With few clues and the constant
distraction of war, can Cheswis protect the people of Nantwich? And which among
them need protecting? Whether they are old friends or troubled family, in these
treacherous times, everyone’s a traitor, in war, law, or love.

What I liked: I enjoyed the author’s recreation of the town of Nantwich,
familiar to anyone who has read as much as I about the English Civil War,
but Bradbridge vividly depicts the everyday aspect of town in a way I had not encountered before. I particularly liked the descriptions of
Cheswis’ cheese business and his friendships with other merchants and
townspeople. I also appreciated the way
the Royalists and the Roundheads interact throughout book – some authors ignore
the fact that there were periods of time without any battle when people from
different sides had to get along. American readers more familiar with our own War Between the States will get a good understanding of the issues in the English Civil War.

What
I disliked: Cheswis is a pleasant
character and the story moved along well, but I wished the mystery had been
compelling. I had a hard time keeping
track of the characters at first and finally made a list. I would have recommended that the author hire
a professional copyeditor so as to avoid a grammatical error like that on page
24 (“it was made clear to Sawyer and I”) and the frequent use of “alright”
which I dislike. However, the author’s
passion for history shines through and keeps the reader interested.

Thursday, April 3, 2014

When David C. Scheper, former Harvard center turned attorney, was in Boston recently, he told me Common Ground by J. Anthony Lukas, was one of his favorite books, and asked me to
describe how the Boston neighborhoods depicted in that book geographically
relate to the parts of Boston with which he is more familiar. Common Ground, a Turbulent Decade in theLives of Three American Families, won the Pulitzer in 1986 for its memorable
depiction of three Boston families from very different backgrounds experiencing
Boston school desegregation in the 1960s and 1970s. My father, having worked with legendary
judge W. Arthur Garrity in the U.S. Attorney’s Office (who later issued the
decision that mandated school busing), was one of the first people Tony Lukas
interviewed for the book, and I am very familiar with it.

I started by drawing the Boston neighborhoods on a napkin,
starting in Allston with Harvard’s football stadium and basketball’s Lavietes
Pavilion, where we had just attended a game.I added Brighton, where I lived as a child, then added my current
neighborhood, near the southwest city limits.I sketched in the three neighborhoods which Lukas focused on in his
narrative, and the next day I found myself giving an actual Common Ground
tour.Having lent my copy to a law firm
colleague who never returned it, I borrowed one from my parents, which has
lovely map endpapers.

West Newton Street in Boston's South End

We started in the South End, where the first family profiled, the Divers,
resided in a neighborhood that was then just beginning its gentrification and
is now extremely trendy and expensive.Colin Diver was an Amherst College and HLS educated assistant to then
Mayor Kevin White.He later became the
president of Reed College.Like many
well educated Bostonians, he and his wife were torn about whether to send their
children to city schools or to move to the suburbs.We
found 118 West Newton Street where the Divers had bought a townhouse for
$27,000 in 1970 (I assume it would be more than a million dollars now).

View up to the Monument

Next we drove to Charlestown, the oldest neighborhood in Boston and one of the prettiest. Although it has nothing to do with the book, I had always wanted to climb to the top of the Bunker Hill Monument, so we made a brief detour (what is known in the legal world as a frolic). The Battle of Bunker Hill (June 17, 1775) received its name because it took place nearby, and Dr. Joseph Warren, a noted doctor and Patriot (who attended Roxbury Latin like my father and brother) was killed in combat when the British stormed Breed's Hill where the battle took place. Dr. Warren is honored on the ground floor of the Monument. The British won but suffered great loss of men and the Colonists gained confidence for the future.

Dr. Joseph Warren, Harvard Class of 1759

David and Constance

The infamous Charlestown High School faces Monument Square.The housing project where the second family lived,
the white Irish-Catholic McGoffs, is a few blocks away.It does not appear to have changed much in
the intervening years, although Charlestown itself is a neighborhood that has
moved in two directions with a poor section and affluent young professionals.The original high school, dedicated in
1848, had been replaced by a neo-classical building in 1907 which was attractive on the outside, and in recent years was converted to expensive condos (a 1427 square foot corner unit is currently on the market for $849K).

Old Charlestown High School

The third family, the African-American Twymons, lived in Dorchester.By the time we reached their former street,
it was raining which added to the lurking depression of the neighborhood.A few teens were playing basketball but the
other people hanging around outside did not look welcoming.We weren’t sure which house was correct and decided
against lingering but David gamely posed, having previously phoned his wife in California
to warn her he was heading to a dangerous part of town.“Then I’m glad you called to say goodbye,”
replied the imperturbable Barbara.

Near the McGoffs' Building in the Charlestown projects

I remember my mother explaining to me as a child that the bigots
in South Boston who threw rocks at school buses didn’t even realize that the
schools in their neighborhood weren’t any good either and that they should be
fighting for better standards, not targeting innocent children. She also believes that if Richard, Cardinal Cushing (best known outside Boston as the priest who officiated at President Kennedy's wedding and his funeral),
a member of the NAACP, had not died in 1970, he would have ridden the school
buses with the African-American children bused to Southie and no one would have
dared throw a rock. His successor,
Cardinal Medeiros, did his best, condemning the violence and bigotry but he was
not liked by the Irish Catholics of Boston, who ignored him.

This Dorchester building on the Twymons' block looks better in the photo than in real life

The book examined how desegregation divided the city of Boston,
and how these three families shared a common goal of wanting a good education
for their children, and how frustrated all of them were by the court ordered
busing and the disruptive fallout. Lukas
interviewed many families before finding three that were willing to share, not
just their stories but their sociological perspectives: one white and upper
middle class, one white working class, and one African-American working
class. The McGoff and Twymon daughters wound
up being classmates at Charlestown High School, both from large families headed
by a very assertive mother. In fact,
Alice McGoff was a vocal leader of the anti-busing movement. The hardest parts of the book for me were
reading the descriptions of the Twymon family’s struggles as the matriarch,
Rachel Twymon, lost control over of her children and her heartbreak resulting from
their destructive behavior. Her passionate
belief in education couldn’t help preserve her family or improve their lives. For those reading the book, Lukas created a
panoramic glimpse of the history of Boston and the way urban education
fails many of those enrolled, including those who most need it.

There were quite a few menacing guys loitering and the police were not taking notice - in fact, were nowhere to be seen. We did not linger.

It was a great excursion, and is now part of my literary tour lexicon. Happy Birthday, David!

Staircase Wit

The French call it l'esprit d'escalier, "the wit of the staircase," those biting ripostes that are thought of just seconds too late, on the way out of the room - or even, to tell the truth, days later.